An American aviator noted for her flights across the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans, Earhart had the confidence and daring to be a stuntwoman or even
a race car driver. Were she alive today, Amelia Earhart would undoubtedly
be flying jets and could easily have been the first female astronaut. I
admire her for her intelligence and control. I see her as more than an
athlete, more than a triathlete! I’m certain she could’ve pinned any guy!
She wrote The Fun of It in 1931 and in 1932 she became the first woman
to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone, establishing a new record for the
crossing: 13 hours and 30 minutes.
For this she was awarded honors by the
American and French governments. In 1935 she became the first woman to
fly the Pacific Ocean. Later that same year she set a speed record, flying
nonstop from Mexico City to New York City in 14 hours and 19 minutes. In
June 1937 she began her flight around the world, flying eastward from Miami
accompanied by Frederick J. Noonan serving as her navigator. The plane
disappeared on July 2nd, en route from New Guinea. An extensive search
by US Navy planes and ships failed to find any trace of the lost flyer,
and her fate remains a mystery. Shortly after her disappearance, her husband,
the publisher George Palmer Putnam, published Last Flight, consisting of
her flight diary of the ill-fated journey, which had been transmitted from
varying stops along the way.
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